Most people would agree that courage is an admirable quality. The word came originally from the Latin word for “heart” – as in Richard, Coeur de Lion, or “Richard, the Lion-heart.” Dan Rather, once a leading TV news “anchor-man,” used to sign off with that single word, “Courage!” (His predecessor and mentor, Walter Cronkite, would […]
In the past, before technology invaded every aspect of our lives, you sometimes you got a lot of “personality” at the check-out stand. “Well how are you today? My sciatica is acting up. Not easy standing here all day. My new daughter-in-law has a desk job. Makes more money in a week than I make […]
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Most people have probably forgotten why we call psychiatrists “shrinks.” (I had a friend who used to call them “trick-cyclists.”) But the term “shrink” is really a contraction of “head-shrinker,” and comes from the notion that, dealing with our heads as they do, they are like the natives of primitive tribes, who used to shrink […]
On or before April 15, 141 million U.S. taxpayers voluntarily shipped to Washington an estimated $1.7 trillion in individual income tax dollars, or about half of all federal revenues, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Taxpayers grappled with a federal tax code that is 73,954 pages long, which Albert Einstein called, “the hardest thing […]
When electricity was still a novelty, it was discovered that a slight electric impulse could be passed down a long line of people, all holding hands. You might think that some bright person, with this knowledge, could have figured out, that here was possibly a new way of transmitting messages virtually instantaneously. If human flesh […]
by Molly-Ann Leikin (Molly-Ann Leikin is an Executive Speechwriter and Emmy nominee living in Montecito. Her website is anythingwithwords.com.) Most people are happier being audited by a fiber-deficient IRS agent than speaking in public. They’re even less enthusiastic about writing their own speeches. Sometimes, we have to do both. I can make it easy for you […]
Isn’t it remarkable that the vast majority of all the games we play involving physical activity are focused upon an object, usually round, which we call a “ball.” It can be small as a marble, or large as a bowling ball, light as a ping-pong ball, or heavy as a “medicine ball,” a sphere, as […]
Private use of marijuana for recreational purposes is now legal for adults living in Montecito. Recreational use of marijuana for those 21 years and older was approved overwhelmingly by state’s voters in November 2016. The legal sale of adult-use cannabis projects at recreational dispensaries licensed by the California Bureau of Cannabis Control took effect on […]
In England it is, or used to be, a big event to turn 21. At my 21st birthday party I made place-cards with verses for each of the guests, who represented different eras in my young life. One was for a fellow-student at University College, London, where we were undergraduates, studying for what was called […]
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Beware the Ides of April – the time when the Federal and State tax men cometh to collect their share of the money needed to pay for next year’s government follies. Here are some taxing takeaways for Montecito residents: The ZIP Code List Montecito is too often associated with Oprah Winfrey, large estates, and the […]
Food has no educational value, no sex appeal, no ethical significance, and very little connection with underwear. Like us, it just sits there, waiting to be consumed by something greater than itself. The Great Alimentary Canal is part of the Universal Chain of Being, Nature’s Grand Design for recycling everything. But what would Food be […]
As far as I know, there is no legal penalty for forgetting. That is why “I just can’t remember” is so frequently adduced during testimony in court. It is the perfect excuse. The beauty of it is that there is no reliable way of proving whether you remember or not. “Lest We Forget” is a […]
After a wet November, a damp December, and a soggy January, February, and March, the good news is that Montecito water bills have never been lower. Seventeen storms have dropped 32 inches of water drenching our community. The heavy downpours in Montecito have temporarily eliminated our “extreme drought” designation but have raised a number of […]
Where I come from my parents’ female siblings were my aunts. Pronounced ahnt, not ant. So, when I first moved here and someone told me her ant just got a new car, I laughed. And when another person told me his ant just moved into a retirement home, I really busted up. But when a […]
